Saturday, October 26, 2013

Grilled on human rights, but Malaysia remains adamant

As
104 countries took their turns to grill Malaysia on its human rights
record in Geneva on Thursday, one common theme was Malaysia's lack of
engagement with human rights instruments.

A delegation of local
NGOs attending Malaysia's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human
rights in the Swiss city said during the review, many countries called
on Malaysia to sign and ratify six core human rights conventions.

As
for the three human rights conventions that Malaysia has already
signed, the country has been pressured to remove its reservations on
them and stipulate a time-line to implement them fully.

"In our
view it will not be easy for the government to ignore these
recommendations, as they did not come just from Western countries, but
also from other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

"Muslim
countries such as Egypt, the Maldives, Tunisia and Turkey also made
this call, obviously seeing no threat to Islam in doing so, in contrast
to views from certain Malaysian Muslim NGOs," the NGOs said in a joint
statement yesterday.

The statement was issued by the Coalition of
Malaysian NGOs for the UPR Process (Comango), Jaringan Orang Asal
SeMalaysia (JOAS) and the Bar Council.

Malaysia urged to sign Rome Statute as well

In
addition, they said, Malaysia has also been urged to sign the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court, which Malaysia said it
would sign in April 2011 but has not done so.

The UPR is held
every four-and-a-half years, during which each UN member has 75 seconds
to comment and make recommendations on another member country's human
rights record.

The NGOs also noted that despite being a member of
the UN Human Rights Council, Malaysia's rate of cooperation with the UN
special procedures and special rapporteurs, and its accession rate on
international human rights instruments "leaves much to be desired".

For
example, they said Malaysia has refused to extend a standing invitation
to UN rapporteurs and independent human rights experts reporting to the
UN, opting to extend invitations selectively instead.

Elections to the UN Human Rights Council will take place in October next year.'Combat discrimination against religious minorities'

Among
other calls on Malaysia, the NGOs said, Iran urged Malaysia to combat
discrimination against religious minorities, while Canada, Chile and
Italy has called on Malaysia to criminalise marital rape.

There
were also calls to form the Independent Police Complaints and
Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) from New Zealand, and from a number of
other countries to abolish the death penalty.

"In our view,
Malaysia needs to be far more convincing that it is committed to the
international system of law and order premised on acceptance of and
compliance with international human rights norms and standards.

"If
Malaysia wants to be active in the front yard of the international
geopolitical scene, it must do more than make an outward show of
professing, promoting and protecting human rights in its own backyard,"
the NGOs said, noting the wide range of complaints against the country.